"Come hither to a place where coolness of spring lingers as the day is long, where verdant colors abound amidst fogs and wisps of low-lying clouds...wafting as nature's veil, where silent rains and rainbows follow our very footsteps."
- ekw
We broke our journey into two parts. The first half aboard the Royal Princess to circumnavigate the British Isle and the latter half as a road trip ( 8 days ) around the southwestern region of the Emerald Isle. But first off, we were not going to miss stopping at Stonehenges on the Salisbury Plain in southern England... as it was enroute from our gateway (Heathrow) to the cruise terminal in Southhampton.
"The Giant's Dance" ...were the giants or Merlin or Druids or Aliens behind all this? Well, archaeologists point to a construction date between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago & more than likely there were several construction dates over this span of time. This means the ancient monument was built during the same era as the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Whoever or whatever, these engineers knew how to angle the megaliths such that on the equinoxes and the solstices, the sun rising over the horizon appears to be perfectly placed between gaps of the sarsens.
These remnants of remarkable interpretation of our world and cosmos by neolithic inhabitants of our planet is now found juxtaposed next to a bloody highway !
For a fascinating discourse on archaeology's more recent discoveries ( via ground penetrating radar and magnetometers) watch June 18, 2015 segment on The Nature of Things "Stonehenge Uncovered"
Example of a sarsen sandstone, a hard, 60 million year old silicified sandstone form the outer circle's vertical walls connected by sarsen lintels. From afar, all the stones look alike, of the same nondescript grey hue. However, we have it on some authority that when they were first laid, the lichens on the sarsens would render it glisteningly white under the sun and the iron would stain the damp hollows a deep red. Then there were of course the mysterious inner blue stones which are said to be foreign to southern England ...some have written of its healing properties. Those are only 4 tonnes, they are said to possess a deep blue hue when wet or freshly broken.
All aboard the Royal Princess
St. Peter Port, Guernsey - first shore stop
We found the local bus that took us to The Little Chapel in Les Vauxbelets, St.Andrew.
There were several niches as above within interior of the little chapel for payers or quiet contemplation
We stopped at Candie Gardens on the bus ride back to St. Peter's port for the view and floral garden featuring a statute of Victor Hugo, presented to Guernsey by the French government in gratitude for the hospitality shown to Hugo during his years of exile on the island.
Strolling the City centre of Guernsey after ascending Candie garden's harbor view & we met up with a friendly business man living across the bay (not surprising as after all the Isle is a financial center being one of the tax havens thus is a popular place re private equity funds), who chatted up the the distinction between what territories consist of "great britain" vs "british isles" vs "united kingdom" & their implications. See below for synopsis of it all - vann diagram makes it all clearer!The Guernsey Isle was the only British Territory occupied by Nazi Germany during WWII. There remains a German Occupation Museum for a free tour. Our choice for a tour was Victor Hugo's Hauteville House. The French author and poet spent 15 years in exile in Guernsey from 1855 and the island provided the inspiration for many of his fine works, including Les Miserables and Toilers of the Sea. However, by happenstance we landed in Guernsey on a Wed - the only day of the week tour is not on offer..drat.
Look, here are all the people from Royal Princess cruise waiting patiently for the tender to take us back to the boat... ya, the tenders were sorely lacking given there were two ships in port that day :(
View of the 800 year old Castle Cornet and its museums
At the famous Blarney Castle in Cork. The castle took its name from the nearby village of Blarney which is derived from the Irish word "An blarna" meaning "the plain" but over the last 500 years, the word has grown to mean flattering or coaxing talk due to the Legend of the Blarney Stone : So the story of the stone goes as follows "in gratitude for Irish support at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314 (a Scottish defeat of the English), Robert the Bruce gave a portion of the stone to Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster. Installed at Cormac McCarthy’s stronghold, Blarney Castle, it became known as the Blarney Stone. A century later, in 1446, King Dermot McCarthy then installed the stone in an enlarged castle he constructed.
During the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Dermot McCarthy, the ruler of the castle, was required to surrender his fortress to the Queen as proof of his loyalty. He said he would be delighted to do so, but something always happened at the last moment to prevent his surrender. His excuses became so frequent that the official who had been demanding the castle in the name of the Queen became a joke at the Court. Once, when the eloquent excuses of McCarthy were repeated to the Queen, she said "Odds bodikins, more Blarney talk!" The term Blarney has thus come to mean 'the ability to influence and coax with fair words and soft speech without giving offense'.
Views front and back from the living quarters of Blarney Castle
Still ascending to the parapet
The most touristy thing to do in Ireland - kissing the Blarney Stone to gain the gift of eloquence...how can one resist? In past times, to kiss the Stone people were hung by their heels over the edge of the parapet. One day a pilgrim broke from the grasp of his friends and went hurtling downward to certain death. Since that time the stone has been kissed by another method. First, you sit with your back towards the stone and then someone sits upon your legs or firmly holds your feet. Next, leaning far back and downward into the abyss while grasping the iron rails, you lower yourself until your head is even with the stone to be kissed...not an easy feat at all.
My curiosity was not going to let me off without some personal investigation ...so what do'ya think....the left picture (with the bar) is the actual mystical Blarney stone, the right one being an example of one of many castle steps we encountered during our tour... why did one yet not the other get all the attention? Oohh ...but legend says...lol...Me thinks we've all just been BLARNEYed folks!!
We spent a good day in Dublin walking thru the major city center and toured the campus of historic Trinity College - its notable alumni include Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Jonathan Swift & Bram Stoker. Above polished stainless steel sculpture celebrates the 1932 nobel prize for physics jointly awarded Cockcroft and Walter of the "Splitting the Atom". Albert Einstein declared that their experiment was the first demonstration of his famous E=MC2 equation.
Native to Dublin, Salmon was firstly a mathematician, chess player & Anglican theologian. His widely read 1888 book "Infallibility of the Church" laid out his arguments that certain beliefs of the Roman Church were absurd. Named Provost (aka Chancellore of Chief academic officer) of Trinity College until his death, although deeply conservative, opposing women receiving degrees, he at last dropped his veto in 1901 allowing women to enter the university.
Inside the Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle - was the official Church of Ireland chapel of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1814 until the creation in 1922 of the Irish Free State which terminated British government control in Ireland
Joined a tour of the Dublic Castle where only one of the medieval tower survived - record tower. Famously, the Irish Crown Jewels were stolen from the Castle in 1907. They have never been recovered. Bram Stoker author of Dracula worked here (1866-1878) as a clerk of Petty Sessions along with his critical theatrical freelancing
Dockside view of our third shore stop, the port city of Liverpool "A people's History" (P. Aughton) indeed.
As we landed at the shore of Liverpool passing thru visitor centre to book our magical mystery tour of the Beatles - two Liverpudlian ambassadors are dressed to greet - what's 'appenin :)
Originally known as "liuerpul", meaning a pool or creek with muddy water, the city has seen some bit of transformation. During 1800's was the "second city of the Empire" , also called "the New York of Europe". Suffered a blitz second only to London during WWII. City fell on hard times during mid-20thC as manufacturing industries went into sharp decline, but the "Merseybeat" phenomenon starting in the early 1960's which culminated with the international success of The Beatles turned the city around - it became internationally renowned for its culture, coupled with various regeneration projects the city became a European Capital of Culture in 2008.
A good chunk of our morning in Liverpool found us exploring the museum. What a great city in that all its art gallery and museums are free at all times to the public...all cities should learn from this! It was a great introduction to this vibrant city.
Architectural model of the greatest building never built - on display here at the Museum of Liverpool. was to be neo-gothic Anglican cathedral, its dome would have been more massive than St. Peter's Basilica. Thank goodness plans were abandonned as eventually deemed too costly especially after rising costs post WWII
From 1830's Liverpool traders sent ships to Shanghai, buying and selling their way to great wealth. Shanghainese seafarers working on Liverpool's famous shipping lines started to settle in merseyside. They gave the city a distinct identity and created Europe's oldest Chinatown. Chinese style was all the rage in 19th and 20th century Liverpool due to the abundant importation and collection by wealthy Britiains of Chinese art, silks, ceramics and furniture. But there is a blight on the record of Liverpool's history :
Docklands Fish and Chips! Best that we've had in a long while - as we walked the Albert Docks to meetup point for the Beatles' tour
Here's a man on a flyboard!
Childhood home (10 Admiral Grove by the pink can) & neighbourhood of Ringo Starr
The empress pub - appeared on front cover of Ringo's first album "Sentimental Journey"
Birthplace and childhood home of former Beatle George Harrison in Arnold Crove (right)
(Left) One of the smallest home of the Isle ..
Strawberry Field - this is actually a replica gate (May 2011). The Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army children's home in Woolton, suburb of Liverpool. The home for children opened in the early 1970s but closed in Jan 2005. The name of the home became world famous in 1967 with the release of John Lennon's single Strawberry Fields Forever. Lennon grew up near the home and one of his childhood treats was the garden party that took place each summer on the grounds of Strawberry Fields. His Aunt Mimi recalled 'As soon as we could hear the Salvation Army Band starting. John would jump up and down shouting "Mimi, come on. We're going to be late"
home of John McCartney above and below of childhood home of John Lennon in Mendips ( tours are available) Both homes are part of The National Trust
Penny Lane bus stop and barber shop (Tony Slavin ) behind the roundabout ...just like in the song :
"Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes, there beneath the blue suburban sky... there is a barber showing photographs...on the corner is a banker with a motorcar...in Penny lane there is a fireman with an hourglass.. he likes to keep his engine clean ...behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout...Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer..." yes, yes - its all there and when one visits with one's own eyes listening to the song playing in the background during the tour, one can taste the tender nostalgia for the neighborhood written into the song by the The Beatles.
As we left the Cavern Club, dusk was settling & we needed to bid farewell to Liverpool - dockside billboard - very fitting ;)
Belfast - view of the ruins of Dunluce Castle on the Antrim Coast - Perched on an outcrop of white rock above one of the nicest beaches on the North coast. The MacDonnells reigned during its heydays during 17th century. It's reputed to be the inspiration behind the royal castle of the Narnia stories by CS Lewis. Other myths - "Banshee of Duncluce Castle" and re the great tragedy when parts of the castle including an entire kitchen was said to have fell into the sea with seven cooks.
Scientists believe that the perfectly formed hexagonal basalt columns are the result of 60 million years worth of lava. When the temperature falls the lava dries out, and its this drying that causes the solidfying lava to crack and form regular pillars of basalt rock. The size and shape of each basalt column is determined by the rate at which the lava cools and dries. Geologists discovered that the slower the cooling the larger the basalt columns.
Humans did settle around the Giant's Causeway in the 19th Century but now the site is uninhabited and is a designated UNESCO heritage site. Supposedly there are approx 40,000 of these stone pillars, some jutting out of the high cliff faces , some randomly arranged as if nature's steps stretching out to the mystical irish sea
Given the glorious sunshine and gentle breeze, we seized upon the opportunity to hike the path up reddish hills to the point afar known as the "Chimney Stacks". Passing along the "Organ Pipes" by the big bowl valley, we listened to the audio tales of Finn McCool's longstanding feud with the Scottish giant Benandonner. Lucky for Finn to have a clever wife who dressed Finn with a bonnet and shushed Benadonner as he yelled for a fight warning him her "baby" would wake up. Legend has it that when Benandonner saw the "baby", he didn't care to stick around to see the size of its father. He swiftly ran back to his own home, tearing up the causeway as he sped along.
We ended up hiking as far as we could go as the path on the lower cliff was forced closed permanently in 1994 due to erosion in the cliffs...but the vantage point did provide a magnificent view backwards
A short hop by tour bus took us to Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge viewpoint. Too bad the one day stop in Belfast did not allow us ample time to visit Carrick Island or to hike the coastal footpath along the way. Next time back, we'll have to try this exhilarating rope bridge experience. It was erected by the traditional fishmen over this 23 meters deep and 20meters wide chasm to check their salmon nets. Picture below actually shows two people in the middle of the rope bridge.
